Former Apple exec: Nokia leadership should be sacked

Silicon Valley veteran and former Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassée believes Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and the company’s board should get the sack.

An outspoken critic of Elop, Gassée told computing.co.uk that Nokia made several strategic blunders under Elop’s helm, and under his predecessor. He pointed out that he advised Nokia to embrace Android two years ago and argued that Elop’s predecessor Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo failed to recognize the threat posed by iOS and Android in time.

"I told them to drop everything and go Android. Do it in secret and let the rumours fly... I would have used Nokia's design flare to make very nice phones. I would integrate Ovi [Nokia's app store] into Android and people would say that Nokia sided with the winner,” he said.

Furthermore Gassée also criticized Elop and Microsoft over the recent Windows Phone 8 pre-announcement. As new OS will not be compatible with existing WP7 phones, it effectively renders the entire Lumia range obsolete in one fell swoop.

"Microsoft can do that with new versions of Windows; IBM used to do that in the olden days. But I'm shocked that the board of Nokia allowed Elop to do that," said Gassée. "He has zero experience in terms of what makes a smartphone maker tick. And what is his experience in supply chain management? Zero,"